THE LOOKBACK

The 7 things to know before Week 4

1) Just when you thought that wacky Jon Gruden coaching rumors were a thing of the past… think again! In an exclusive interview with 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello, Gruden talked about the controversial emails that led to his messy exit from the Las Vegas Raiders and that he wants to get back into coaching, at the college level. It remains to be seen whether any programs are interested in his services, but the return of “Grumors” will absolutely be felt once the coaching carousel starts spinning.

2) #CalTwitter has dominated much of the social media discussion in the buildup to College Football Week 4, and it’s glorious! To recap, the Golden Bears are a semi-surprising 3-0 team headed into this week’s contest with winless Florida State. Cal fans have fully steered into nearly every stereotype of the university and have created a mountain of social content trolling the Noles. I have no idea whether the Golden Bears can move to 4-0 after their game in _ahem_ “Callahassee, ” but at a minimum, we’ve gotten the answer to another question: Yes, apparently there is a vocal contingent of Cal fans with serious Twitter game. Who knew?!

3) So, what exactly is happening with the Florida Gators? At this point, it seems like a question of when, not if Billy Napier will be fired. Naturally, this has paved the way for some Urban Meyer rumors, which the former coach has flatly denied. Though this is an unlikely possibility in 2024, don’t be surprised if these whispers persist.

4) It appears the ACC has gone back to the table with Florida State and Clemson in hopes of restructuring its grant of rights agreement to keep the Seminoles and Tigers from trying to bolt. Notably, a reconfigured deal would feature a different revenue sharing model and a much shorter term, which would expire in 2030 instead of 2036. Whether this would stave off further conference realignment is obviously unclear.

5) The craziest stat for this upcoming weekend: Combined quarterback age in the Utah vs. Oklahoma State game. Saturday’s game may feature a combined age of 49 between two players in their seventh year of eligibility in Cam Rising (25) and Alan Bowman (24). For context, that’s greater than the combined age of the quarterback matchup between the Bears and Colts in the NFL!

It’s also worth noting that the point spread for this game is doing some funky things amid rumors that Rising is too injured to play.

6) The long-awaited release of UCF’s “Space Game” uniforms is here! This has become a yearly tradition for the Knights given their proximity to the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. Take a look at these threads for the Nov. 2 game at home against Arizona.

7) Marshall has a tall task this weekend, playing at No. 3 Ohio State as a healthy underdog. During the week, Thundering Herd coach, Charles Huff, had a humorous NIL pitch for any Buckeye that would be willing to transfer to his team.

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THE LOOKAHEAD

Our big Week 4 Preview is live!

College Football’s Week 4 has a handful of obvious headliners, but is deep with intrigue all throughout the day. We’re officially calling it “Slow It Down Saturday,” partially as a warning to college football fans that our early season assumptions may deceive us as we seek to predict winners and losers this weekend. We did our best to break down the biggest games and also call out the under-the-radar matchups that are sure to contribute to drive the narratives come Sunday morning:

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Also, don’t forget that our new video series, Big Ten Breakfast, goes live, every Friday morning at 9am ET out on our YouTube channel. Check it out here: